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Impulse couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He stares at Zedaph, who’s waiting for an answer, then at Tango, who’s just going along with Zedaph. He can’t think of a logical answer for either of them, so he says the first thing that comes to mind.
“You’re being ignorant,” he says plainly, mostly a jab at Zedaph, but the message is for Tango all the same.
Zedaph rolls his eyes as if Impulse weren’t trying to talk him out of the biggest mistake of his life. He scoffs when Impulse doesn’t take his comment back.
“Impy… come on. It doesn’t have to be like that,” Zedaph tries, and Tango nods in agreement.
“I know what you want from us, Impulse, but you have to understand…” Tango speaks as if Impulse is an idiot for not wanting to join them. “We live in different times. We want to survive.”
“So survival is going to come at the cost of doing the right thing? Since when have you guys had that mentality?” Impulse asks, but he doesn’t have to. He already knows.
He saw it; they all did. When they went to the town square last month, some Stormtroopers rounded random citizens up, demanding to know the location of a wanted Rebel. When the citizens had nothing to say, they were publicly executed.
It spooked them all, sure, but he didn’t think it had completely changed his friends.
“Impulse, we can’t just do things based on our morals anymore,” Zedaph smiles, but it looks like it pains him to do so. “You know that I’m not one to just go along with a crowd, but we have no choice here.”
Impulse had gotten in contact with the Rebellion a few weeks ago, right after the incident in the town happened. He’d been given the offer of a lifetime: to be the leader of his own team. He could fight to better the galaxy, and he could do so alongside his best friends.
It seems they had other plans when they decided they were going to join the Empire.
“No choice? No choice?” Impulse has never known Zedaph to just… give up when faced with an adversary. “You have the choice between the Empire and the Rebellion. I would sure hope you’d choose the right path here.”
Tango groans, almost annoyed that they’re not getting through to him. In what world was Impulse going to be okay with going to the Empire? In what world are they okay with abandoning everything they’ve ever known for something so shallow?
“You guys can’t be serious…” Impulse mutters when neither says a word. “I don’t buy that you guys would prefer sacrificing everything we believe in just for the sake of survival.”
“We’re not even going to be doing anything bad!” Zedaph tries as if that makes things any better. “We’re just going to be clearing security passes at this engineering center.”
Everyone knows that’s how it starts. Someone begins working a low-level job at the Empire, just to say they’re with the Empire to avoid being killed. But soon enough, everyone winds up in the wrong place anyways. Zedaph and Tango aren’t going to be different no matter what they think. He shakes his head at that, but Zed isn’t looking at him anymore.
“You know the Empire isn’t just scary monsters that eat people and faceless soldiers, right?” Impulse grabs at Zedaph’s arm to force him to face him. “It’s real people. Bad people. But you guys already know that.”
Zedaph rips his arm out of Impulse’s grip, and Impulse nearly stumbles back at the force he’d done so. Even Tango seems a bit shocked, but he hides it by quickly wiping the emotion from his face. Impulse doesn’t, though. He lets every bit of hurt show if only to hurt Zed more than he’s hurting right now.
“Yeah, because the Rebellion has never done anything bad, huh? It’s not black and white, Impulse. It’s never been.”
Impulse blinks. Did he even hear that right? “Zed, the Rebellion isn’t murdering innocent people or conquering planets.”
“Do you want to end up as one of those casualties? Caught up in the war that treks across the galaxy and dying for no good reason?”
Impulse hugs his arm to his chest.
No, he’s not going to die for nothing. If he’s dying, he’s going to die for a cause. He will die fighting for what he believes in, all while knowing that he never gave up and took the easier route.
Joining the Rebellion or the Empire are equally as dangerous. Someone not a part of either might say that it’s stupid to join any of them. But Impulse is done sitting around and waiting for the war to end. He can’t take it anymore; he’s going to do something about it. He’s going to fight, and he’s even going to lead.
If he has to do that without his best friends, then so be it. But he hopes they’ll understand him.
As angry as he is, he doesn’t want to give up on them either.
“I’m not throwing away my life just because I think the Empire is going to save me,” Impulse tells them, watching Tango intently. At least Tango could still bear to look him in the eyes. Zedaph’s glaring a hole into the ground. “I’m going to save myself, and I’m going to try to save the galaxy too.”
Tango doesn’t answer, but Impulse thinks it might be because he can’t rebuttal anymore.
Instead, Zedaph continues pulling excuses out of his ass. “The war can only end one way, and that’s with the stronger side coming out on top. I’d rather be on that side when it happens.”
Impulse takes a step toward Zedaph, and he doesn’t back away this time. He stands taller than him, but something in the air has never made him feel smaller. He doesn’t shrink away, and neither does Zedaph when he brings a hand to his chin and forces his friend to look him dead in the eye.
Silence takes over, Zed and Tango holding their breath to see what Impulse is going to do.
“You’re going to be on the wrong side if you think the Empire’s going to win the war…” He can feel Zed swallow a lump in his throat. He hopes Zed can’t feel the tremble in his fingers. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
His voice barely travels across the room, but both of them hear it. His voice sounds thunderous to his ears, and the slight furrow of Zed’s eyebrows tells him everything he needs to know: his message came across just fine, but his mind hasn't changed.
He glances at Tango, whose frown is so prominent that Impulse almost lets himself hope for a moment. It’s instantly squashed when Tango breaks out of his trance and settles a hand on Zedaph’s shoulder.
“Zed, we need to go before we miss our ship,” Tango says, shattering the silence that’s settled in.
Zedaph inhales loudly. When he exhales, Impulse feels his breath on his hand. He lets his hold on Zedaph tighten for only a second, just to see if a final plea would somehow convince his friends to stay.
He can tell that they both hesitate, but ultimately, Impulse is forced to let go when Zedaph pulls away from him. He turns away from them when he realizes that they’re both grabbing bags that had already been packed.
Impulse doesn’t turn when he hears their movement pause, nor does he turn when he hears it pick back up. He doesn’t face them when the door opens, and he doesn’t stop them when he hears it close. He stares at the wall for what feels like an eternity, wallowing in the silence that’s fallen over him now that he’s alone.
Well… that’s not how he expected telling his friends he’s joining the Rebellion would go.
Xisuma summoning his entire crew is worrying, to say the least.
Impulse always made sure that he was the first one of the crew to show up to any meetings of the sort that might arise. He finds it calms them when they’re not immediately faced with authority, and it makes everything run smoother.
(Minus what happened with Grian last time, but that’s a one-off thing).
He showed up to the briefing room ten minutes early, but he was shocked to find that X wasn’t the only person waiting for him.
Etho and Joel are sitting next to each other, Etho writing up what Impulse presumes is a mission report, and Joel quietly giving his input. X stands beside them, watching what they write with something akin to dread in his eyes. He doesn’t look up when Impulse enters the room, or even when he clears his throat.
Etho’s not an unfamiliar sight when it comes to meetings. He’s randomly there sometimes and Impulse has gotten used to finding his friend here when unexpected. But it’s his friend’s friend that makes him nervous.
Half of Impulse is expecting False and her team to walk in. Another part of him is saying that they would already be here if they were summoned. So no, this meeting is only for them, and Joel is helping Etho with his mission report.
When neither Joel, Etho, or X look up, Impulse clears his throat a second time and decides to finally say something. “Uh, hey guys. Is everything alright?”
Underneath his mask, Etho’s expression can usually be a bit hard to decipher. But his eyes can tell stories sometimes, and this just happens to be one of the rare occasions where Impulse can read him.
His eyebrows are slightly furrowed, and he doesn’t even look at Impulse. He nods in his direction, takes a quick glance at Joel, and turns back down to his report.
Etho’s a reserved person, sure, but he’s not the kind to just ignore people. Impulse considers them rather close, with the two of them going on missions together every now and again when their schedules free up. Etho doesn’t ignore people, and he wouldn’t just not at least say hi.
Joel, for all it’s worth, waves at him and smiles awkwardly. He hasn’t gotten the chance to get acquainted with much of False’s crew, but someone like Joel doesn’t just leave one’s mind. Impulse remembers him.
He remembers him being there to save Grian’s life, and pulling Scar out of his shock when he needed someone to fight back against Evil X.
Either way, Joel acknowledges his presence more than the other two do. X motions to one of the seats, implying that that’s all the response he’s going to get for now.
Impulse sits, and he waits patiently for the rest of his team to arrive.
First, Martyn and Jimmy walk in together, then Grian, then Mumbo last. It’s not until Mumbo’s situated that Etho and Joel push their report toward X, who scans it with a grim expression.
“Mission Report, Planet Coruscant,” X begins, reading the report out loud. “Mission begins at 14:00 when Etho and Joel arrive on planet. Mission ends at 21:40 after Etho and Joel meet with the third-party informant and depart from Coruscant.”
Etho’s always going on one mission or another, that’s not surprising to hear. Impulse does find it interesting that he had Joel with him. Whether X assigned them the mission together or for whatever reason Etho chose to take him, it’s worth noting in the back of his mind.
“Do one of you guys mind sharing what the informant had to say?” X doesn’t sound happy, but his tone isn’t directed at any of them.
Beside him, Martyn shifts in his seat. Jimmy’s fidgeting with his fingers as if he’s in trouble and truthfully, Impulse can’t tell if they’re in the clear or not. Everyone’s being a bit too cryptic to tell.
Mumbo’s looking down at the table and Grian’s staring head-on at X. X doesn’t seem to notice, or if he does he just doesn’t care. He waits until Joel speaks up first, and moves to allow Joel the space.
“We’ve found out something quite… disastrous, to be honest with you all.”
That seems obvious by the way that the three of them are acting, but Impulse doesn’t bring that up. Something tells him they wouldn’t appreciate that.
“Our informant defected from the Empire and he had knowledge of a weapon that he described as a planet killer. We…” He looks at Etho for a moment, who nods in encouragement. “…have reason to believe that this weapon isn’t built yet and is still in the construction process. The informant seemed confident that the weapon would do what he said it could do, however, and the Empire’s farming kyber crystals for it.”
Unconsciously, everyone turned to glance at Grian. Grian didn’t shrink under the attention, but Impulse could tell he doesn’t like everyone looking at him like this. Respectfully, he looks back at Joel.
After a beat, Grian gets tired of no one asking him the question they all want to ask. “If you want to know what I think they’re doing with it, I don’t have any guesses right now. You’re going to have to give me a little more than that, or at least more time to think.”
“It’s just…” Etho speaks up, trailing off a moment to think before starting again. “The informant described it as a planet killer. That kind of thing only means one thing.”
“This weapon, whatever it may be, is going to be bad. The informant was just as scared of the engineer as he was of the weapon.”
“Makes sense,” Mumbo adds. “I mean, someone capable of building something like a planet killer is someone I would also fear.”
“You should’ve seen this guy! This weapon had him seriously spooked and acting irrationally; it’s not at all what someone ex-Empire would do. Even tried shoving me up against a wall and making himself scary…” Joel chuckles at that. “This Tango guy had us unsettled after everything.”
Impulse shoots his head up. There’s no way Joel means…
No, it can’t be. The Tango he knew would never defect if it meant he would be proved wrong.
It’s not him. It can’t be.
But just to be sure, he has to ask, “Who did you say the engineer was again?”
Etho answers this time. “No clue. He never told us and he said he was going based on rumors. Also said we’d all be dead if he was right, so that’s great.”
Tango would do something like that to protect Zed, and Zed is absolutely capable of creating a planet killer.
Joel and Etho don’t have a name for the engineer behind this supposed planet killer, but they don’t need a name. Tango’s was enough, and it makes his blood run cold.
A shiver goes down Impulse’s spine, and he swears that Zedaph’s name is on the tip of Joel’s tongue.
But he doesn’t say it, and now he can see Grian looking at him weirdly from the corner of his eye.
Martyn clears his throat. “So the Empire has a hold of a planet killer. What’s our plan?”
Joel reiterates what he said earlier. “While we think the Empire may barely be starting construction, we can’t make any definitive conclusions. We’re basing all of this on Tango.”
“Makes sense,” Impulse adds without really thinking. He hopes he at least appears to just be an observant leader and not someone with old ties to the Empire. “Someone this scared of the weapon would defect the moment they caught wind of it, right?”
Had this been any random member of the Empire, Impulse would be inclined to just hear out Joel and Etho. He would come up with something at the very end because usually, he can’t draw conclusions with only the information he has now.
But he knows more than he should.
He knows the sound of Tango’s laugh and what defeat looks like on his face. He’s seen what betrayal and hurt mean to him, and what would cause him to be as scared as Joel’s describing him to be.
Tango would leave the Empire as quickly as possible if Zedaph was creating something dubbed a planet killer. And based on what happened those couple of years ago, he could even believe that Tango would leave Zed for that.
Impulse knows Tango, but then again, he knew Tango back then too. He thought he did, at least.
He could be wrong here, and he can’t risk getting things wrong when they’re dealing with something called a planet killer.
Luckily, Etho thinks he just made a good point. “Right,” he agrees, clapping Joel on the back. “That’s what Joel and I think. At the very least, we can safely assume that it’s not complete.”
“What about the worst?” Grian chimes in, always knowing what to say. “Assuming the worst, they’re almost done with this weapon.”
Mumbo shifts uncomfortably next to him. “Do we think that’s at all likely? Judging by the informant, I wouldn’t think that would be the case.”
Grian shrugs. “I dunno. Just throwing it out there.”
“I think it’s fair,” Jimmy defends. “Shouldn’t we go about this as if it’s already completed? Even if it isn’t, I think we’ll cover a lot more bases if we act like it is.”
It feels like everyone turns to X, except for Etho. Etho’s staring down at the table, occasionally glancing over to Joel. Etho must feel Impulse staring because his eyes drag over to him.
“Impulse?”
He curses Etho for being so attentive, then gives his two cents. “I don’t think we can safely assume anything, actually.”
“You think it may be nearing completion?”
“What’s to say it’s not already done?”
Zedaph has always, always, been the smartest in the room. If you asked Impulse, he would say the smartest in the galaxy. Zed has the capability to create a planet killer, but would he be able to hide something like that from Tango for so long? Could he keep it hidden to the point that Tango wouldn’t know about it until it’s already finished?
Unless Tango didn’t know it was Zedaph until now.
Impulse inhales sharply when X snatches the mission report from its place on the table. “Grian and Joel, I want to go over things a bit more with you two. We’ll regroup later. Everyone else is dismissed.”
Everyone stays put for a moment before Impulse takes the first step to leave. It’s understandable why X wants to keep Grian and Joel specifically, the former having intensive knowledge of kyber crystals and the latter having been on the mission, but adjourning the meeting in the dead middle is strange. It’s not like X, so either he was going to give them something to do or… Or X has something he wants only them to know.
Impulse doesn’t think he did anything to make it obvious he knows who Tango is, but he can’t help thinking over every single one of his actions as he walks out of the briefing room.
He hears footsteps running after him, and he turns assuming that it’s one of his crew mates.
“Not here,” Etho whispers when Impulse stops dead in his tracks. “We’ll talk in my ship.”
Impulse can only nod, but he just wants to go. He wants to lie down in his bed and wait as his team trickles in one by one into their dormitory. He wants to curse Tango for getting so caught up in deep shit that he’s unknowingly dragged Impulse into his mess. He wants to mourn the friends he lost that night and also shout at them that he was right until his throat burns. He wants to cough up blood because his screams are so loud and he wants it to be known across the universe that he had warned his friends before they made the worst decision of their lives.
Instead, he follows Etho as he takes him to the hangar where his ship is neatly parked.
The walk was silent, despite all of the noise in Impulse’s head, and Etho’s leading him up the boarding ramp and closing it behind him.
“What is it?” Etho asks once the ramp has enclosed them in the ship. “What did you hear that no one else did?”
Ah, so Etho noticed him fidgeting or something. Impulse can either tell him why he thinks what he thinks, or he can sit on it a bit longer and figure things out before dropping a bombshell on everyone.
“Why do you think I heard something?”
“You booked it out of there. You don’t usually do that, and when you do it’s because you’re thinking things over,” Etho says gently.
Etho’s never been anything but a good friend. They’ve gone on missions together, countless ones, and Etho’s always had his back. He has no reason to hide anything.
Etho would be understanding of the situation, Impulse knows that. He knows that if he asked Etho not to tell X until he’s ready, he would. He probably wouldn’t even tell Joel, but Impulse can’t quite figure out what their relationship is yet. Either way, he knows he can trust Etho with this. He knows it.
He opens his mouth, maybe just to say ‘The name sounds familiar’, but the words don’t come out.
Tango and Zed’s mistakes are making their way back to him, and there’s no telling how long it’ll be until they come back. It could be next week if Tango shows up at the Rebel base because someone was on a mission to bring him, or never, both killed by the Empire once they’ve served their purpose.
Impulse needs to think this over more before he starts telling Etho the story of his tragic friendship breakup or whatever.
Etho must notice his hesitation because he raises an eyebrow, watching as Impulse opens his mouth and closes it back up. He chuckles humorlessly, hoping it’ll get awkward enough to scare Etho off, but his friend stands strong in his place.
“I… don’t think I can talk about it right now,” Impulse says at last.
Etho nods, nothing but considerate, and presses a button to lower the boarding ramp.
If Impulse wants to leave, he can, and Etho won’t hold it against him. He never would. He leaves the option open to stay and talk about it, but he doesn’t think it would do either of them much good to stay and waste time.
As Impulse steps down the ramp, Etho speaks up again. “If you need someone to talk to about things, I’m sure Grian’s willing to lend an ear.”
Well, it seems maybe Impulse revealed himself after all. How else would Etho know he needs to see the only other person that’s an expert in disappearing friends who turn up suddenly?
Impulse waves goodbye, not staying to watch what Etho’s up to as he closes the ramp behind him.
It takes him three days to finally go to Grian.
He spent the entire day after the talk with Etho sulking. He allowed himself to do that at the very least if he was truly going to be dealing with Tango and Zedaph again after two years.
He used the second day to try to piece together a timeline. He didn’t want to sound totally lost here but he thinks he’s got something that was at least coherent.
Now, on the third day when Grian’s the only one hanging around their dormitory, Impulse shuts the door and makes sure it’s locked.
The sound of the lock clicking makes Grian look up from a paper he’s reading, his head whipping up. He visibly releases the tension in his shoulders when he sees it’s just Impulse, covering up his moment of fear with a chuckle.
“And here I thought that someone was finally coming to kill me,” Grian jokes.
“Where are the others?” Impulse asks, just to be sure that they won’t be interrupting. It’s not like he’s trying to keep it a secret from his team or anything, but he also knows that Grian’s going to understand him in a way that nobody else is going to. He’d rather they be alone.
The question has Grian setting aside the papers and sitting up. “Mumbo and Jimmy went off to eat lunch and Martyn’s doing some comm stuff for X. What’s up? Should we be waiting for them?”
Impulse shakes his head. “No. I wanted to talk to you alone, actually.” Now that he definitely has his attention, he continues. “It’s about the planet killer stuff.”
“Oh?”
“Remember the guy that Joel and Etho met? The informant?” He waits for Grian to nod. “I know him. Well, used to. It was a while ago. But he was an old best friend of mine, and I think that’s who they met up with.”
Grian hums, taking it in. He considers him for a moment, and Impulse holds his breath.
For as much as Grian may help here, their situations are still different. Grian’s friend had been in the Rebellion all along. Impulse’s left to join the Empire and he thought he would never see them again. They lived such different lives now that he didn’t even think about them much these days, but as of recently…
“How do you know it’s him? Like, definitely?”
“His name’s Tango and our other best friend was Zedaph. They…” He tries to find the words so his story doesn’t sound so pathetic, but he can’t. It is a pathetic situation, so maybe he doesn’t need to hide the fact. “At the same time I was joining the Rebellion, they both decided they were going to join the Empire. For security, and whatnot. They wanted to save their own skins so they left, and I came here.”
“I noticed you got all weird during the meeting with X,” Grian says quietly, almost as if he’s thinking to himself. “You were tense. I saw it and chalked it up to nerves about the planet killer. But now you’re saying that your friend might be the same guy warning us of it.”
To anyone else, it sounds insane. Impulse knows how insane it sounds: why would anyone who ditched their friend to be a part of the Empire warn the Rebellion of something that could ensure complete Empire control?
Maybe it does sound insane and Grian’s just sparing him, but it still encourages Impulse to continue.
“Mostly because I think Zedaph is the engineer behind the planet killer.”
Grian’s eyes bulge, his jaw-dropping before he promptly picks it back up. “Wait, what?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to either of them, but I still feel like I know them. Does that sound crazy?”
Grian chuckles, and he realizes how silly the question sounds. If there’s anyone who thinks he doesn’t sound crazy, it would be him.
“Hey man, I thought I was hallucinating the first time I saw Scar after everything,” Grian reminds. “You are not crazy if you can recognize them based just on what Etho and Joel told us. Although I am curious as to how you figured out the engineer part of things.”
He’d forgotten that Etho and Joel didn’t have any information about the engineer in his craze of solving things. “Honestly, just hearing about Tango is enough. He wouldn’t defect from the Empire unless it was directly related to Zed. He’s too proud to leave just because it’s the right thing to do.”
“And this Zedaph…”
“He’s capable of creating a planet killer,” Impulse whispers, and he wonders if Grian even heard him. Grian nods along and waits for him to speak. “Tango wouldn’t leave Zed, I know that for a fact. But he would if he discovered what Zed was creating.”
Grian waits again, and Impulse doesn’t know whether to curse his curiosity or thank him for being so attentive. “Here’s how I think it went down: Zed’s been creating this thing for a while. He kept Tango out of the loop because he knew Tango would draw the line at that. When Tango caught wind, he defected. He would be terrified and scared like Joel said, especially if he was going to the Rebellion with information about how dangerous Zed can be.”
“Didn’t Etho say it was all rumors about the engineer?” Grian asks with a head tilt.
Impulse is glad he asked. “See, that’s why I think it’s near completion already. Zed would never allow Tango near a project like this and it would only happen once it’s bigger than both of them. As if I couldn’t have warned them about that…”
It’s bitter, but he’s right. Zed’s used to having control of these types of things. He probably did have control at some point, but it’s the Empire. That control must’ve slipped from him at some point, falling out of his hands and tangling him in a mess that caused Tango to leave him.
Impulse warned them. He warned them. He warned them.
Now he has no clue where Tango’s at, what Zed’s doing, or how to stop this planet killer.
“X thinks you’re right about that, by the way,” Grian throws in. “He mentioned it when he had Joel and I stay behind after the meeting.”
Tango must’ve seen something. That’s the only way he’d find out about it. Zed is careful. If he didn’t want Tango to know about it, he wouldn’t. “Someone slipped up, and he found out. He’s protecting Zed, which seems awful because he created a goddamn planet killer, but if you knew him…”
For a moment, he imagines Zed here at the Rebellion. He would work alongside Mumbo, or maybe Etho. They’d all love doing engineering stuff together. He would thrive here, and he’d be doing something good.
But he insisted on trying to survive, and now he’s built a planet killer.
As if he can read his mind, Grian says, “Sounds like he would’ve been a good fit here.”
“He would’ve.” He lowers his voice, leaning in close to Grian. “That’s why we’ve got to get him back. Both of them.”
Grian gets closer. “What do you want to do?”
Impulse sits down next to him and begins explaining his plan.